Gymnast representing Latvia Elisabeth Polstyanaya on the air of the program “There is a theme!” on the channel, she said that the financing at her own expense to participate in the World Cup is not for her the main reason for refusing to play for the country.
Polstyanaya was born in Latvia but raised in Russia. She obtained Latvian citizenship in 2018 and has since represented the country in international competitions. Earlier on , Polstyanaya said she had been given an ultimatum: to give up Russian citizenship in exchange for playing at the World Cup. In August, the Latvian Gymnastics Federation announced that the athlete was allowed to continue playing for the country at his own expense. On August 17, the athlete refused to continue his career in Latvia.
– Funding is not the main problem and not the reason for my refusal. Because I was only funded by the Olympic Union in 2021 when I entered the Olympic team. Before that, for three years (from 2018 to 2021) I traveled at my parents’ expense. So that wouldn’t be a problem for us. If you go back to the letter in which I was allowed to compete in the World Championships, in fact this letter was created in a hurry, because even the dates of the competitions are incorrectly indicated there. The federation sent me an official letter, but it seems to me that this letter was written on purpose to justify itself after it started to spread in our media, in Latvia they also tried to justify themselves with a one way or another with their own methods. It’s a shame that in such a situation there is no one who would fight for me as an athlete. Everybody raised their hands and said, “Well, what can we do?” Even the federation did not contact me, no one spoke to me personally. Everyone knew that I was coming to Latvia and that I would stay there for several days, but no one tried to contact me.
And so I wrote a letter of refusal, because my preparations have been thwarted, without departures for the World Championships, I cannot leave immediately. The World Cup stage, which was in Romania, has already passed, it ended yesterday. They also set the terms that I would have to go through a control training session on August 16, during which it would have been decided who would compete in how many events at the World Championships. I was directly told that if I suddenly changed my mind and chose Latvian citizenship, after the World Cup, I would be forced to participate in all national competitions, to gain my ranking again. If I were to come back now and prepare for the world championships at my own expense, I would also train at my own expense, because for the only gym worthy of the name that the Olympic Union paid for, I would also have to pay myself myself. Naturally, I didn’t agree to such terms, and they knew I probably wouldn’t. The letter was created simply to justify itself in Latvia,” Polstyanaya said.
The world championship will take place in Sofia from September 14 to 18.
Source : MatchTV
